Concept Paper

2410 Taft Avenue, 1004 Manila, Philippines

LIN632D/ Bilingualism and Bilingual EducationTerm 1 AY 2014-2015

Marianne Jennifer M. Gaerlan, Ph. D.

CONCEPT PAPER

Present level of language and cognitive development of bilinguals and monolinguals in early childhood years: predicting risk of learning English language

Early childhood is the critical period of human development that sets a foundation

for a complete and healthy cognitive, emotional and physical growth of every individual in later

life. Researchers believe that this stage is fundamental in shaping the children’s future, health,

growth, development and learning (Facts for Life, 4th Edition). One of the most remarkable

occurrence that the child can demonstrate between the age of 2-5 is the emergence of language.

This is the onset of preoperational stage which Piaget identified. The stage when a child’s

symbolic thoughts is being transmitted through language (J. Piaget, 1963).

Basically, there are antecedents of language development which every child go

through in the process. This can be better understood from the time the baby produces sounds,

how he/she looks, movements and gestures to communicate. These prelinguistic characteristics

are important precursors of actual language use (Adamson, 1995). One manifestation that a baby

engages in a communication is when he/she reciprocated a sound made by the caregiver either

through sound, movement, smile and other facial expressions (Fogel, 1993; Uzgiris, 1989). And

this communicative abilities are first enhanced by parent’s “pseudo- conversation” or “pseudo-

dialogue” which means that the adult alone is considered to be responsible for maintaining the

flow of conversation (Schaffer, 1977). It is in this situation that when a baby gurgles, the mother

usually responds by speaking. The mother will wait if the child response, if not, the mother will

make another sound or prompt the baby to respond by touching the child. This scenario will help

Submitted by: Divina G. Naoe July 24, 2014

the child to become a communicative partner by the end of his/her first year (Golinkoff, 1983;

Schaffer, 1997,1996). This will be followed by learning to gesture between the age of 3-12

months. Babies learn to use pointing to guide other’s attention to particular objects (Fogel,

1993). When the child learns to use this pointing whether through directing or following, the

child will eventually learn that object and events have names. They begin to label things and

learn great things around them (Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 1999). Across time, they learn to

reduce the use of gestures and use verbal skills to communicate their needs and wants (Adamson,

1995; Bates, 1987).

The experiences on how the children acquire language may be varied but

normally, they use language on the same rate. The way in which the children learn language

follow a specific pattern and inherently systematic in nature (Cole & Cole, 1993; Curtiss, 1997;

Goldin-Meadow, 1982; Lindfors, 1991; Mclaughlin, 1984; Newport, 1991).

This is why Vygostsky postulated that language is a critical bridge between

sociocultural world and individual mental functioning. This further entails that language

acquisition is the most significant milestones in children’s cognitive development (Berk &

Winsler, 1995). This is also in consonance to Piaget’s principle that language is a verbal way an

individual expresses his/her understanding of the world (Piaget, 1983).

Background on the Second Language Acquisition

Most of children in the world are bilinguals (Grosjean, 1982; McLaughlin, 1984).

This is due to the fact that all children have the opportunity to learn the second language during

their lifetime. The acquisition of the second language depends on many variable which is the

same way as the acquisition of the first language ( Bialystok & Hakuta, 1994; Collier, 1995;

Lindfors, 1991). Young children will learn the second language when situation demands them to

and will revert back to monolinguals when it is no longer a need. The enhancement of the second

language will depend on how the family members support the language usage. Language


development is dynamic, it needs to be used and it should be meaningful for the person. (Collier,

1995; Grosjean, 1982; Krashen, 1996; McLaughlin, 1984).

Learning a second language often has a specific benefits, like, children are more

cognitively advanced, have better concept formation, are more flexible in their thinking, and

have better attentional control (Bialystok, 1999; Diaz, 1983, 1985; Gomez & Kodzopeljic, 1991;

Rosemblum & Pinker, 1983). Furthermore, bilingualism will also improve the individuals’ social

behavior (Lambert, 1987). One must be concern about is the notion that, if children do not

acquire their first language they may experience difficulty later to become fully literate and

academically proficient on the second language (Collier, 1992, 1995; Collier & Thomas, 1989;

Cummins, 1981, 1991; Collier & Thomas, 1995). It is imperative therefore to learn and become

familiar and proficient on the first language to be successful bilinguals. And it is worth note

taking that prior to become proficient on the first language, children need to develop receptive

language skills (Butterfield & Siperstein, 1972). This matches with what contemporary

developmentalists recognized to be important where both the biological aspect and the

environment interact to ensure that normal development will transpire.

Key Research Questions

The important concern in this study is to identify the level of language domain and academic

performance of monolingual and bilingual children. This study will seek to answer the following

questions: First, what is the level of language domain of monolinguals and bilingual children?

Second, what is the level of academic performance (level cognitive domain) of monolinguals and

bilingual children? Third, is there significant difference between the level of language domain

among monolinguals and bilinguals? Fourth, is there significant difference between the academic

performance of monolinguals and bilinguals? Fifth, is there significant correlation between the

level of language development and academic performance among monolinguals and bilinguals?

Finally, what is the significant implications can be derived from the language developmental

levels and their cognitive performance of monolingual and bilingual children. Submitted by: Divina G. Naoe July 24, 2014

Research Methodology

This research will take the early childhood children as respondents, particularly the children from

kindergarten grade level in one private school in Pangasinan. The researcher will use the

language developmental milestones to identify the language performance level of kindergarten

children and their first quarter grade. Additional information will be gathered to know the

demographic profile of the respondents and to identify who among the children are monolinguals

and bilinguals.

Statistical Tool

Weighted Mean

Pearson R correlation coefficient

Anova

Reference

Books

Hetherington, E.M., Parke, R., Gauvain, M. & Locke, M. (2006). Child psychology A contemporary viewpoint (6th Ed.). New York. McGraw-Hill

Moreno, R. (2010). Educational psychology. United States of America. John Wiley & Sons

Ormrod, J.E. (2012). Human learning. United States of America. Pearson

Papalia, D., & Feldman, R.D. (2012). Experience human development (12th Ed.). New York, US. McGraw-Hill

Journal Articles:

Bialystok, E. (2009). Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent. 3-11.

Bialystok, E. (2008). Second- language acquisition and bilingualism at an early age and impact on early cognitive development. 1-4. Retrieved from http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/BialystokANGxp_rev.pdf

Clark, B. (2011). First- and second language acquisition early childhood. 181-188. Retrieved from ecap.crc.illinois.edu/pubs/katzsym/clark-b.html


Grosjean, F. (1998). Studying bilinguals: Methodological and conceptual issues. 131-149.

Hakuta, K. & Gould, L. (2007). Synthesis of research on bilingual education. 38-44. Retrieved from http://web.stanford.edu/~hakuta/Publications/(1987)%20-%20SYSNTHESIS%20OF%20RESEARCH%20ON%20BILINGUAL%20EDUCATION.pdf

King, K., & Fogle, L. (2006). Raising bilingual children: Common parental concerns and current research. 1-2. Retreived from http://www.cal.org/resource-center/briefs-digests/digests/(offset)/90

Pearson, B.Z. (2007). Social factors in childhood bilingualism in the United States. 399-410. doi:10.1017.s014271640707021X

Website:

Tucker, R. (1999). Center for Applied Linguistics. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved from http://www.cal.org/resource-center/briefs-digests/digests/(offset)/90


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